Ferry Accident Investigators Are Looking At Life Jackets

By GARY GATELY

Published: March 9, 2004

BALTIMORE, March 8—
Federal investigators looking into the capsizing of a water taxi here on Saturday that killed one passenger and left three missing were looking on Monday night at what led to the accident and whether passengers could get to life jackets quickly.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the main investigative agency, is trying to establish why the pontoon boat capsized in the Inner Harbor after a fast-moving storm blew in.

The safety board also said it would look into why the boat was out in such rough weather and under what conditions the nonprofit organization that operates the water taxi service would halt operation.

The 36-foot Seaport Taxi pontoon boat, carrying 23 passengers and 2 crew members, overturned about 4 p.m. Saturday, just after leaving the stop for Fort McHenry, a popular tourist destination, amid gusts of up to 47 miles per hour. Rescuers, from a Naval Reserve base at the fort and a Baltimore Fire Department boat, pulled 22 people from the cold waters.

A 60-year-old passenger identified as Joanne Pierce of Cumberland County, N.J., died. The Associated Press identified two of the three missing people as Corinne J. Schillings, 26, of Homewood, Ill., and her fiancé, Andrew M. Roccella, also 26, of Virginia.

Numerous questions about life jackets remained, said Lauren Peduzzi, a safety board spokeswoman.

''Were the life jackets accessible to the people on the vessel?'' Ms. Peduzzi asked. ''Were they told to don life jackets? Were any of them wearing life jackets at the time? That's something we're very interested in in the Baltimore accident.''

Under gray skies and winds that whipped the waters into a froth Monday afternoon, more than a dozen divers, aided by sonar equipment, searched for the missing people in an area of roughly 1,000 square yards.

The safety board said it might take a year before it released a final report on the accident. But Ellen Engleman Conners, the agency's chairwoman, said on Monday night that safety recommendations based on findings could come much sooner.

''If we see a significant impact on safety, we will issue an immediate safety recommendation even if the final report is not finished,'' she said.

Ms. Peduzzi said the boat, the Lady D, had passed a safety inspection and appeared to be in compliance with regulations. The captain had a valid license.

Federal investigators have asked the Coast Guard for all accident reports for 11 Seaport Taxi boats, owned and operated by the nonprofit Living Classrooms Foundation.

James P. Bond, the president and chief executive of the foundation, on Monday defended the safety of the operation.

''The bottom line,'' Mr. Bond said, ''is that the boat has been certified, Coast Guard procedures have been followed and safety's the No. 1 concern.''

Speaking of the accident, he said, ''From what I understand, there was just a terrible gale force wind that came out of nowhere.''

Water taxis carrying mostly tourists can be seen frequently here taking passengers between spots including the Inner Harbor, Fells Point and Fort McHenry, site of the 1814 battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write ''The Star-Spangled Banner.''

Photo: Mourners consoled one another yesterday in Baltimore as the search continued for capsized-ferry victims. (Photo by Associated Press)